The VIA Character Strength Test For Self-Discovery
What is VIA?
As psychology has historically been about managing or curing mental illness, within the last few decades a new aspect of positive psychology has risen through the ranks. This includes studying what positive aspects there are to human development and lives, such as character strengths in our daily lives or hope and optimism in goal setting.
VIA stands for Values In Action and pertains to character traits or values that drive our decision making and help guide us to a happier, more fulfilled life. This survey is meant to help validate character strengths that each person consists of. Best of all, it’s free to do!
This assessment was put together by professional psychologists that aimed to understand how our values play a part in our everyday actions.
The researchers have seen in those who know what their character strengths can do the following:
Improve relationships
Enhance health and overall wellbeing
Manage or overcome stress
Following your deepest truths, can allow for you to reach your highest level in life. Using your character strengths as a guide to living.
Take the VIA
The VIA Character Strength assessment is free to users, with the entry of an email. The assessment takes about 15-minutes to complete and gives insight to each value that comes forward once you’re done.
Your assessment results will not be shared, however it is used for further research when it comes to character assessments throughout psychology research.
So, not only are self-discovering, you are helping the advancement of psychology.
Virtues & Strengths
Virtue is another way to say values and/or beliefs. Researchers have condensed the 24 strengths into 6 classes of virtues. Most psychologists believe we gain these values through our belief systems.
From Eastern and Western cultures, these values expand our minds and souls on who we are and where we come from.
Western culture such as Christianity, we gain the values of through the Bible teachings. Or through Judaism through the Hebrew Bible. Islam through the Koran. These teachings emphasize faith, hope, and charity. Are these values to you? Do they stem from one of these religious teachings?
From the Eastern teachings, in Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, promote values such as humanity, harmony, and wisdom. What about these values or virtues, do you relate? Can you speak on the harmony of your community or the wisdom of your elders?
The VIA Character Strength Assessment took from these religious texts and labeled these 24-characters as the following 6 virtues:
Transcendence - Gratitude of the world around us. This value connects us to the world in a meaningful way.
Wisdom - This value can help us learn and gather knowledge through creativity, curiosity, perspective, and judgment.
Humanity - Building community through social intelligence, love, and compassion is the main force to forming connected relationships with others.
Courage - Bravery, zest, honesty and perseverance are emotional strengths that can help empower us through adversity and problem solving.
Temperance - This value helps us “manage habits and protect against excess” by overcoming our vices (VIACharacter.org, 2020). Self-regulation, humility and forgiveness can be found here.
Justice - Through teamwork, leadership, and fairness we can harness the power to persuade in social or group settings.
For a complete guide on the 24 character strengths, visit their website: https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths
Discovery of Values and How to Put Them In Action
As said before, this assessment is meant to tell you what your soul is filled with. Whether that’s justice for those who can’t lead themselves or finding beauty in the little things. These values are meant to help guide our daily decisions.
Benefits to discovering your values
Knowing our strengths allows for us to consciously move forward when we are in sticky situations. We can benefit by using what’s inside of us already and highlighting the best parts during times of adversity. Some of the most well known benefits to understanding our values looks like the following:
Enhanced wellbeing
Self-discovery leads to authenticity and authenticity leads to overall happiness. Using this information allows for you to take charge of every situation through your deepest values.
Career building
If you value leadership, you will be leading the charge in meetings or new initiatives at work. If you find you value teamwork, then being a part of the team may be better suited for you. Using this to your advantage in all areas of your career can help you build the resume, team, position, etc. that you truly want!
Awareness
Being aware of yourself is one of the biggest reasons you’re here, right? You want to grow to be a better version of who you are now, thus a constant reminder of the positive potential you bring to the table. This awareness is so important in your self-improvement journey.
Relationships
Learning to focus on your best qualities and what you bring to the relationship can help nurture and celebrate amazing relationships all around you. Plus, you can encourage your friends, family, and/or partner(s) to take the assessment and discuss results together!
Manage stress
Knowing how you handle your stress, will allow for higher resilience to stressful events in your life. This resilience can help you through struggles as you dive head first into your anxiety or problem solving using your strengths as guides.
Recognize before putting them into action
Learning how your strengths show up can be tricky.
But learning to recognize them you can do the following:
Journal experiences right after they happened
While the event is fresh in your mind, try to write out what happened, how you felt, and what values you believed were present.
Ask those around you
You probably trust those closest to you, so if you feel comfortable enough to talk to them, ask them what they think you’re good at or when they see your values present themselves.
Notice strengths in others
If there are people you admire, try to learn what values they portrait and begin mimicking what draws you to them. If the value is courage, what about them is courageous that you could implement into your daily life?
Character Strengths in Action
Create a “self-portrait”
Whatever you feel can represent the version of you that is actively using your values, create it. What a perfect time to use your creativity and create a vision board, color a picture of your new version, or changing your environment to match your values
Talk to your friends and family
Talk to others about your values and ask them about theirs. What drives those around you to do more or to be their best selves?
Create a better career position
Whether this means diving deeper into the position you have, creating more in the position you are in already, or changing careers completely, embody your character strengths in everything you create or how you perform in your career.
Habit resilience
Creating the life you want is only possible if you create patterns that line up with your values and purpose.
Practice
Use every day opportunities to put your best values forward in the smallest of moments.
Decision making made easier
Knowing what values you stand on, you can always refer your decision making back to the simple value that made you put it in action!
Try it for yourself
Take the assessment and learn how to lean into your highest level of self-discovery which is your values, virtues, or character strengths that make you truly special to who you are and who you’re meant to be.
